V«^/WX^«%'«^V%«/W%^'W^MA^<\<W%'V\^>V%%%«V«  8 


ADDRESS 

t  \  OF  THE 

HONORABLE  HENRY  BALDWIN, 

J  BEFORE  THE  J 

I  AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  j 

I  OF  THE 

I  CITY  OP  NBW-YOES. 


UCSB    LIBRARf-^--'-^^^ 

ANNIVERSAHY  ADDRESS 


y^^yy. 


DEUVERED  BEFORE  THE 


AMERICAN  INSTITUTE 


CITY  OF  NEW- YORK, 

AT  THE  CHATHAM  STREET  CHAPEL, 
OOTOBSR  9,  183«, 

DUKIMG  THK 

BBVSITTH  AITITTJAL  PAIR, 


nOIf01lABI.E  HEITRT  BAI.l>WI3r, 

OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


NEW-YORK  : 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISIIiiD  AT  THE  OFFICE  OP  THK  MECHAMCS' 
MAGAZINE,  No.  35  WALL  STREET. 

MDCCCXXXIV. 


w« 


">»  .^ 


•s  .•-, 


'  After  the  Address  was  concluded,  a  meeting  of  the  Managers  of  the  Fair 
was  convened,  and  a  resolution  unanimously  passed  the  Board,  approving,  in 
the  highest  terms,  of  the  Address,  and  a  Committee  was  appointed  to  request, 
from  Judge  Baldwin,  a  copy  of  the  same  for  publication.  A  few  days  after- 
wards the  following  reply  was  received. 

Gentlemen, — Agreeably  to  your  request,  I  furnish  you  with  a  copy  of  my 
address,  delivered  to  the  Institute  during  its  late  Fair,  and,  in  doing  so,  beg 
leave  to  offer  you  my  thanks  for  your  kind  attention  to  me  and  my  family. 
To  me,  the  whole  scene  was  truly  gratifying,  as  well  from  the  nature  of  the 
exhibition,  as  the  interesting  recollections  of  former  times  which  it  excited. 
I  enjoyed  it  the  more,  because  I  felt  that  I  could  perform  the  part  which 
you  assigned  me  without  departing  from  that  line  of  political  neutrality  which 
a  regard  to  my  station,  and  the  objects  of  the  Institute,  made  it  our  common 
duty  to  observe. 

Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  on  the  success  of  your  laudable  efforts. 
The  favorable  impression  which  they  appeared  to  make  on  all  who  witnessed 
them  affords  a  strong  assurance  that  their  continuance  will  greatly  promote 
an  union  of  public  sentiment  as  to  the  true  interests  of  the  country. 
I  am,  with  great  respect  and  esteem,  your  friend,  &c. 

HENRY  BALDWIN. 
Messrs.  Mabtin  E.  Thompson,  and  others, 

Managers  of  the  Fair  of  the  American  Institute. 


Truttees  of  the  American  Institute  of  the  City  of  New-  York,  1833-4. 

president. 
JAMES  TALLMADGE. 

VICE-PRESIDENTS. 

MARTIN  E.  THOMPSON, 
CLARKSON  CROLIUS, 
JAMES  LYNCH. 

CORRESPONDING   8ECRETART. 

THADDEUS  B.  WAKEMAN. 

RECORDING   SECRETARY. 

EDWIN  WILLIAMS. 

TREASURER. 

JOHN  A.  SIDELL. 

MANAGERS  OP  THE  SEVENTH  ANNUAL  FAIR. 

MARTIN  E.  THOMPSON,  ELIJAH  PAINE, 

JOHN  SAMPSON.  GEORGE  SULUVAN, 

SILAS  B.  HAMILTON,  JOHN   FAIRLIE, 

JAMES  F.  KENNY,  EDWARD  T.   BACKHOUSE, 

JONATHAN  AMORY,  C.  J.  SWARTWOUT, 

THADDEUS  B.  WAKEMAN,  AUGUSTUS  FLEMLNG. 

GEORGE  BACON, 


ANNIVERSARY  ADDRESS. 


Mr.  Pxesident,  and 

Gentlexen  of  the  Instittjts  : 

Fairs  are  interesting  as  an  exhibition  of  the  products  of 
human  labor,  in  those  arts  which  are  alike  indispensable  to 
private  comfort  and  national  prosperity ;  the  experience  of  all 
nations,  who  have  held  them,  has  through  all  time  attested  their 
good  effects,  in  the  incentives  which  public  admiration  never 
fails  to  excite  in  the  artisan  and  mechanic,  to  renewed  zeal, 
and  to  stretch  every  faculty  of  his  mind  and  body  to  their  utmost 
capacity  in  the  fabrication  of  what  gives  plezisure  to  every  one, 
and  profit  to  himself. 

The  premiums  distributed  are,  to  the  successful  competitor, 
the  public  testimonials  that  he  has  made  some  useful  contribu- 
tion to  the  common  stock  worthy  of  the  token  of  public  gratitude, 
earned  by  his  labor  and  skill. 

The  effects  of  a  display  and  public  exhibition  of  the  various 
specimens  of  the  articles  of  consumption,  in  the  wide  circle  of 
society,  promotes  that  competition  between  the  fabricator  and 
seller  which  never  fails  to  benefit  the  consumer  and  purchaser. 

To  the  young  mechanic,  who  desires  to  avail  himself  of 
improvements  in  the  practical  sciences,  or  mechanical  arts,  they 
are  the  sources  of  profit  and  instruction,  in  taking  from  the  labor 
of  others,  to  his  own  apprapriate  occupation,  the  means  of  use* 
fulness  to  the  public  and  his  own  interest. 

Mere  spectators  admire  them  as  a  splendid  pageant,  which 
captivates  the  eye  by  the  brilliant  effect  of  an  exhibition  in  one 
view  of  the  numerous  and  choicest  productions  of  the  useful  and 
ornamental  arts  ;  presenting  in  the  aggregate  a  condensed  dis- 
play of  the  fruits  of  the  native  industry  and  skill  of  our  country- 
men and  women,  at  the  fire-side,  in  the  work-shop,  or  the  manu- 
factory ;  exemplifying  the  wants  of  society,  with  their  means 
of  supply  from  domestic  sources. 

They  view  with   equal  admiration  its  component   items   in 


detail,  whether  formed  by  the  hands  of  the  man,  the  child,  or 
the  woman,  by  the  machinery  of  a  cambric  needle,  or  the 
mighty  power  of  the  steam  engine,  conducted  by  the  science  of 
the  engineer  and  the  labor  of  the  hardy  fireman  ;  the  materials 
of  its  composition,  the  skill  with  which  they  have  been  fabri- 
cated, the  combined  effect  of  both,  in  beauty  of  appearance, 
and  substantial  value  for  utility  or  ornament,  equally  strike  the 
view,  and  impress  the  mind  with  pleasure. 

Fairs  are  also  the  practical  illustrations  of  the  operations  of 
government,  the  nature  of  its  institutions,  and  the  course  of 
legislation  upon  those  interests  which  have  been  the  favored 
objects  of  its  guardianship  ;  testing  their  adaptation  to  the 
products  of  the  soil,  and  the  inclination  of  the  people,  in  the 
results  of  labor  and  the  material  aftbrded. 

They  are  also  epochs  which  denote  the  state  of  the  arts,  and 
the  nation,  at  the  different  periods  of  its  history  ;  affording 
authentic  historical  facts  recorded  in  its  annals,  handed  down 
by  tradition,  or  evidenced  by  some  relic  of  former  times, 
preserved  to  show  how  their  ancestors  lived,  and  the  relative 
condition  of  the  country  during  the  lapse  of  time. 

And  as  every  nation  in  the  civilized  world  has  some  rival 
in  the  arts,  in  institutions  of  government,  and  systems  of  policy, 
each  is  emulous  to  excel  the  other,  and  to  make  the  most 
favorable  display  of  its  resources,  so  as  to  impress  upon  all  who 
witness  them  their  wisdom  and  successful  results.  All  these 
considerations  combine  to  give  to  the  fairs  and  exhibitions  of  the 
products  of  labor  and  skill  a  high  degree  of  interest,  pleasure, 
and  utility.  But  in  this  country,  fairs  like  the  one  we  have 
witnessed  are  calculated  to  inspire  the  mind  with  higher  and 
stronger  emotions.  This  exhibition  of  the  varied  productions 
of  native  industry  is  not  merely  the  developement  of  the  gradual 
progress  of  an  infant  nation,  in  those  arts  which  alike  contribute 
to  the  increase  of  private  happiness,  and  the  expansion  of  all 
the  sources  of  national  greatness. 

It  is  more  like  the  unfoldings  of  a  new  creation,  which  open 
to  the  vision  with  doubts  of  their  reality,  and  burst  upon  the  mind 
with  all  the  charms  of  an  enchanted  scene.  If  we  trusted  to 
the  dictates  of  reason  alone,  and  founded  our  judgment  on  what 
appeared  to  be  the  accustomed  order  of  improvement  in  other 
countries,  we  should  credit  no  man's  assertion  that  many  of  the 
proudest  specimens  displayed  were  the  products  of  arts  intro- 
duced  among  us  as  but  of  yesterday. 

And  if  there  could  be  a  Fair,  which  would  cease  to  be  impres. 
sive  by  its  brilliancy  as  a  pageant,  and  to  interest  the  specta- 
tors by  the  quality  of  the  articles  which  compose  it,  as  a  display 
of  merchandise  for  sale  or  exchange,  it  is  the  one  which  the 
labors  of  the  Institute  have  presented  to  our  examination.  Its 
zest  is  as  a  moral  spectacle  in  the  visible  tangible  evidence  of 


the  capacity  of  the  country  to  fabricate  all  the  articles  of  nece«« 
sity  and  comfort  requisite  to  the  supply  of  the  wants  of  the 
people,  and  many  of  the  enjoyments  of  luxury  ;  it  testifies  to  the 
senses  and  the  understanding,  that  in  our  internal  resources  are 
found  the  materials,  and  in  the  skill,  ingenuity,  and  industry  of 
our  citizens,  the  abundant  assurance  of  their  ability  to  meet 
all  the  requisitions  of  society  from  domestic  sources,  without 
imposing  any  burthen  on  the  pursuits  or  interest  of  any  of  ita 
members. 

It  is  on  a  small  scale  what  the  country  is  on  a  great  one ; 
the  whole  nation  is  one  expanded  fair,  in  every  part  of  which 
are  exhibited  the  specimens  of  the  mechanical  arts  and  manu- 
facturing skill,  and  their  salutary  fruits.  There  is  no  part, 
however  remote,  that  does  not  profit  by  the  invention  of  the 
cotton  gin  ;  and  the  improved  application  of  steam  power,  more 
than  it,  contributes  to  the  support  of  government. 

The  whole  revenue  from  impost  does  not  equal  the  annual 
saving  in  the  production  and  transportation  of  the  crops  of  the 
south  and  west,  and  the  expenses  of  travelling  consequent  upon 
these  improvements ;  and  no  American,  who  in  the  Fairs  of 
Europe  has  examined  the  specimens  of  the  arts  of  the  country 
which  they  have  exhibited,  will  be  humbled  in  any  one  feeling 
of  national  pride,  in  viewing  the  Fairs  of  the  American  Institute. 
What  has  been  seen  abroad  is  the  improvement  of  ages  upoa 
established  arts ;  what  is  seen  here  is  the  creation  of  a  few 
years  ;  and  even  if  he  should  award  the  premium  to  the  foreign 
article,  the  wonder  is,  not  that  there  should  be  a  difference, 
but  that  there  should  be  a  competition. 

If  we  look  at  these  things  with  American  feelings,  they  excite 
the  swelling  emotions  of  patriotism  at  what  we  have  attained, 
rather  than  humiliation  at  the  space  we  have  left  between  the 
attainments  of  the  different  countries  of  Europe  and  our  own  ; 
the  indications  of  the  last  thirty  years  justify  the  confident  belief 
that  in  the  next  we  shall  be  as  far  in  advance  of  the  old  world, 
in  every  branch  of  industry,  which  makes  a  nation  great,  and 
the  people  happy,  as  we  have  been  behind  them  even  in  our 
infancy. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  it  is  not  sixty  years  since  the 
people  of  this  country  composed  thirteen  colonies,  which  had 
no  political  connection  with  each  other,  or  any  bond  of  union, 
but  their  common  dependence  upon  the  crown  of  Great  Britain  ; 
that  it  is  not  fitly  years  since  the  first  institution  of  a  govern, 
ment,  which  had  the  physical  power  to  promote  the  progress  of 
the  useful  arts,  to  encourage  manufactures,  or  to  protect  either 
from  the  long  settled  policy  of  other  governments,  and  only  ten, 
years  since  the  powers  of  the  government  have  been  exerted  in 
the  adoption  of  any  great  system  of  protecting  policy. 

This  Fair  and  the  condition  of  the  country  are  the  commenta. 


6 

ries  on  the  American  system,  which  has  enabled  man  to  avail 
himself  of  the  bounties  of  Providence,  under  the  protection  of  a 
government  which  secures  from  foreign  invasion  the  fruits  of  the 
labor  of  those  who  sustain  it,  in  the  adoption  of  a  system  of 
policy  which  fulfils  all  the  objects  of  its  institution. 

It  is  under  its  auspices  that  the  healing  effects  of  a  free  govern- 
ment are  exemplified,  that  its  resources  are  developed,  and  its 
independence  consummated.  We  were  always  a  free  people  ; 
we  became  an  independent  people  by  the  valor  of  the  heroes, 
and  wisdom  of  the  patriots,  of  the  revolution  ;  but  neither 
freedom  nor  independence  made  us  a  happy  or  a  great  people. 

This  remained  to  be  done  by  the  successful  pursuits  of  agri- 
culture, the  arts,  manufactures,  and  commerce  ;  the  farmer, 
the  mechanic,  and  the  merchant,  have  made  us  a  great  nation 
by  the  combined  results  of  production,  fabrication,  and  distribu- 
tion, from  their  humblest  beginnings  to  the  greatest  perfection 
which  science,  industry,  and  the  arts,  can  give  them. 

The  nation  has  its  anniversary,  and  parties  their  days  of 
celebrating  political  triumphs ;  and  why  may  not  mechanics 
have  their  jubilee  ?  and  why  may  not  any  man  in  the  nation,  be 
his  station  what  it  may,  join  in  the  triumph  and  partake  the  gala  ? 

Public  opinion  justly  excludes  the  incumbent  of  a  judicial 
office  from  all  those  assemblies  into  which  political  excitement 
enters ;  but  it  would  be  hard  indeed,  if,  when  one  meets  with  his 
associates  of  other  days,  with  whom  he  has  acted  in  a  great  and 
common  cause  in  all  the  harmony  of  private  confidence,  and 
under  a  common  impulse  to  promote  the  public  good,  and  now 
sees  in  the  happiness  of  all  around  them,  and  the  boundless 
extent  of  the  healing  and  blessings  of  a  system  which  protects 
the  whole  industry  of  the  country,  it  should  not  be  permitted 
to  him  to  hold  a  public  conference  with  those  friends  and  asso- 
ciates in  the  public  and  private  efforts  which  led  to  its  adoption. 

I  cannot  look  upon  the  old  members  of  the  Mercantile  Society 
of  New.  York,  and  of  the  present  Institute,  without  recollections 
which  I  am  sure  they  indulge  with  as  much  pleasure  as  myself, 
nor  contemplate  the  Fair  which  they  have  prepared,  without 
referring  to  that  system  of  which  it  is  the  legitimate  and  ac- 
knowledged  offspring,  and  the  part  which  individually  and  atten- 
tively they  acted  in  trying  times. 

It  is  at  the  mechanics'  jubilee  that  their  importance  to  society 
is  estimated,  and  the  mighty  effects  of  their  industry  are  display- 
ed ;  it  is  here  that  they  can  show  their  victory  over  foreign  policy, 
and  that  in  fighting  the  battles  of  the  producer  and  consumer, 
they  have  achieved  a  moral  triumph,  harmless  to  friends,  country, 
or  any  cf  its  interests  ;  and  after  a  few  more  such  exhibitions  of 
mechanical  and  manufacturing  skill,  poetry  and  public  opinion  will 
alike  declare, 

"  That  the  warrior's  name, 
Tbo'  pealed  and  chimed  on  all  the  tonnes  of  faro«i 


Sounds  less  harmoniouii  to  the  grateful  mind 
Than  his  who  fashions  and  improves  mankind." 

It  is  many  years  since  you  associated  for  the  furtherance  of  11 
great  cause,  which  you  deemed  of  vital  importance  to  the  welfare 
of  the  whole  community ;  it  was  during  that  period  of  gloom  and 
despondency  which  overshadowed  the  land  after  the  late  war,  that 
you  formed  a  voluntary  society  for  the  promotion  of  American 
industry,  and  its  encouragement  in  ail  its  great  branches.  You 
advocated  a  system  of  national  policy  which  would  revive  the 
commerce  and  protect  the  navigation  of  the  country,  by  the  same 
measures  which  should  sustain  the  existing  manufacturing  estab- 
lishments, and  give  to  new  ones  an  assurance  that  they  should  not 
remain  exposed  to  prostration  by  foreign  policy,  regulations,  or  laws. 

Your  conduct  was  not  regulated  by  any  fears  that  the  prosperity 
of  any  branch  of  national  industry  would  injuriously  affect  any 
other ;  in  calling  on  the  National  Legislature  to  rescue  the  com- 
merce, the  navigation,  and  the  manufactures  of  the  country,  from 
the  spirit,  the  commercial  policy  of  other  nations,  which  had  enabled 
the  merchant,  the  ship  owner,  and  manufacturer,  abroad,  to  seize 
and  retain  the  fabrication  and  distribution  of  the  articles  of  con- 
sumption. You  disavowed  the  belief,  that  the  theatre  which  was 
open  for  the  display  of  industry,  was  large  enough  only  for  two  of 
its  great  pursuits.  You  declared  that  the  merchant  and  the 
farmer  ought  to  make  common  cause  with  the  mechanic  and  the 
manufacturer;  that  the  field  of  their  operations  was  the  whole 
Union,  in  which  each  could  be  successful,  not  only  without  impair- 
ing the  profits  of  the  other,  but  with  the  certainty  of  mutual  bene- 
fits, if  the  government  would  act  in  the  common  cause.  You  did 
not  yield  to  the  too  prevalent  apprehension,  that  the  state  of  the 
country  was  not  adapted  to  the  policy  of  protecting  manufactures 
by  legislation  ;  that  it  would  tend  to  destroy  the  revenue,  commerce, 
agriculture,  and  morals  of  the  nation,  or  operate  as  a  tax  on  all  for 
the  emolument  of  the  few.  You  went  farther  :  as  members  of  the 
Mercantile  Society,  you  expressed  an  opinion,  and  made  an  asser- 
tion, in  relation  to  the  consequences  of  the  adoption  of  a  protective 
system,  which  proposed  to  embrace  within  its  provisions  all  the 
leading  articles  of  manufacturing  industry,  to  the  supply  of  which 
the  capacity  of  the  country  was  deemed  fully  adequate,  that  cannot 
be  unnoticed  on  this  occasion.  (See  Appendix,  A.)  After  having, 
during  the  operation  of  the  then  existing  system,  for  five  years 
examined  its  practical  results  on  the  interests  of  the  country,  it 
was  your  deliberate  opinion,  that  where  the  domestic  article  has 
superseded  the  foreign  in  our  market,  the  consumer  is  supplied 
with  a  better  article  at  the  same  price,  and  that  the  prohibitory 
duties  on  East  India  cottons  of  the  coarsest  description  had  bene- 
fitted commerce  by  giving  increased  employment  to  shipping.  You 
also  stated  that  the  price  of  those  manufactures,  on  the  importation 
of  which  the  highest  duties  had  been  imposed,  had  fallen  in  price 
from  twenty  to  fifty  per  cent. ;  that  the  consumption  of  cotton  in 
Am<^rican  manufactories  tended  to  enhance  the  market  value  to 
those  who  raised  it,  from  one  to  two  cents  a  pound ;  and  that  the 
protection  of  manufactures  on  a  comprehensive  scale,  as  proposed 
fourteen  years  ago,  would  not  be  injurious  to  commerce  or  diminish 
the  value  of  any  article  of  domestic  produce   exported.    These 


things  ate  not  recalled  to  recollection  for  any  other  purpose  than 
in  their  connection  with  the  present  occasion,  as  strongly  indicating 
the  difference  between  opinions  founded  on  facts,  and  practical 
results,  and  those  which' rest  on  theory,  abstract  principles,  or 
that  political  science,  the  professors  of  which  may  believe  contains 
safer  maxims  and  rules  of  conduct  than  those  which  have  been 
consecrated  by  the  test  of  time  and  experience  in  the  connection  of 
cause  and  effect. 

To  the  members  of  this  Institute,  it  must  afford  a  subject  of  high 
gratification  to  be  able  to  thus  display  to  their  fellow  citizens  this 
convincing  conclusive  verification  of  their  past  opinions,  and  the 
entire  confirmation  of  all  tlie  declarations  they  had  made  of  the  ben- 
efits which  would  result  to  the  whole  community, by  the  adoption  of 
a  system  of  protection  which  they  have  so  long  cherished,  in  the 
perfect  conviction  that,  when  fully  developed,  and  equally  applied 
to  the  whole  industry  of  the  nation,  its  beneficent  effects  for  the 
future  would  justify  their  most  sanguine  anticipations,  founded  on 
the  illustrations  of  the  past. 

Every  article  in  this  exhibition  is,  as  a  living  witness,  present 
to  testify,  to  submit  to  any  test  or  scrutiny  however  severe,  and 
to  be  examined  and  cross-examined  ;  with  whatever  preconceived 
opinions,  they  will  not  shrink  from  the  comparison  with  the 
productions  of  other  countries,  as  specimens  of  the  progress  of  the 
mechanical  arts,  and  an  exemplification  of  the  entire  success  of 
that  system  which  sustained  them  in  their  infancy  ;  and  which  in 
their  turn  now  sustain  the  system,  by  the  most  irrefragable  evi- 
dence of  its  efficiency,  wisdom,  and  justice.  If  we  turn  from  the 
scene  before  us,  to  that  which  is  afforded  by  a  view  of  this  great 
emporium  of  the  commerce,  this  market  and  ware-house  of  a 
new  world,  the  same  appearance  meets  the  eye,  and  the  same 
pleasing  subjects  of  contemplation  are  impressed  upon  the  mind. 
Turn  where  we  will,  the  progress  of  improvement  is  visible,  every 
pursuit  of  industry  has  been  in  active  and  profitable  operation,  each 
contributing  to  swell  the  tide  of  prosperity  which  flows  throughout. 
The  shipping,  which  navigates  your  waters,  and  thickens  around 
your  wharves,  and  the  customers  who  crowd  to  your  market,  attest 
the  prosperity  of  your  commerce,  as  plainly  as  your  work-shops 
and  this  exhibition  indicate  the  flourishing  state  of  manufactures, 
while  their  combined  influence  is  apparent  and  benignly  felt  in 
the  whole  range  of  their  diversified  operations. 

The  personal  observation  of  all  of  us,  in  whatever  part  of  the 
country  it  has  been  made,  teaches,  that  no  class  of  society  profit 
more  by  the  thrift  of  commerce  and  manufactures  than  the  free- 
holder m  the  site  of  their  pursuits  and  its  vicinity,  and  the  farmer 
who  supplies  their  wants  from  the  produce  of  his  soil  and  labor. 
We  have  all  witnessed  the  progress  and  decline  of  improvement, 
in  towns,  cities,  and  the  surrounding  country;  but  no  one  has 
seen  either  flourish,  while  its  manufactures  and  commerce  were 
declining — decay,  while  their  pursuits  were  profitable,  or  the  success 
of  one  interest  obstructing  the  growth  of  any  other.  In  taking  a 
still  wider  range,  and  embracing  the  results  of  the  industry  of  the 
people,  in  all  their  occupations  through  the  Union,  under  the  ope- 
ration of  the  system  of  policy  which  has  prevailed  for  the  last  ten 
years,  we  find  abundant  evidence  of  general  and  progressive  im- 


9 

prbvement  in  the  condition  of  the  country,  the  expansion  of  all  its 
resources,  the  increase  of  domestic  exports  and  tonnage,  which  are 
the  unerring  standards  of  general  prosperity- 

Tlie  increased  value  of  the  exports  of  domestic  produce  in  1838 
over  those  of  1823  is,  in  the  products  of  the  sea  $744,000,  of  the 
forest  $488,000,  of  agriculture  $17,697,000,  of  manufactures  $3,600,- 
000,  of  domestic  tonnage  employed  in  the  foreign  trade,  entering 
and  departing,  334,000  tons.     (See  Appendix,  F.) 

Such  is  the  growing  state  of  the  country,  under  the  operation  of 
a  general  system  of  protecting  duties  during  ten  years,  as  exhibited 
in  the  public  documents  ;  surely,  these  facts  must  present  to  every 
citizen  of  this  republic  true  cause  of  congratulation,  in  which  none 
can  more  cordially  join  than  the  members  of  this  Institute,  who 
through  good  and  bad  report  have  never  faltered  in  their  efforts  to 
bring  about  that  state  of  things  which  all  experience  has  taught  to 
be  the  best  calculated  to  secure  permanent  prosperity  to  all  parts 
and  interests  of  the  nation.  Increased  products  from  the  land,  the 
forest,  and  the  sea,  steady  and  uninterrupted  advance  in  all  the  me- 
chanical arts  and  manufacturing  operations,  employed  in  the  fab- 
rication for  domestic  consumption  cf  all  the  materials  furnished 
from  every  source,  yielding  a  surplus  for  exportation  in  exchange 
for  what  is  profitable  to  import ;  with  a  commerce  daily  swelling  in 
all  the  employments  of  transportation,  in  the  foreign,  coasting,  and 
internal  trade.  This  happy  condition  is  one  which  must  excite  one 
universal  feeling  of  exultation,  which  may  be  freely  indulged  on  an 
occasion  like  the  present.  These  annual  exhibitions  are  not  pre- 
pared  to  celebrate  the  triumph  of  a  party,  or  to  recall  the  remem- 
brance of  past  excitement  between  one  class  of  our  citizens  and 
another,  on  the  interesting  questions  of  national  policy,  which  have 
heretofore  agitated  the  country.  They  are  in  miniature  what  the 
official  statements  from  the  Treasury  are  on  a  great  scale  :  the  one 
displays  the  state  of  the  nation  in  the  useful  arts,  by  representing 
in  detail  the  varied  productions  of  mechanical  labor  and  skill ;  the 
other,  the  aggregate  fruits  of  labor  in  all  its  employments,  so  far  as 
they  become  materials  of  commerce  for  exportation.  Both  afford  use- 
ful matter  for  reflection :  they  teach  us  that  the  legislative  encou. 
ragement  of  manufactures  is  not  attended  with  those  pernicious 
consequences  which  many  hud  predicted  ;  that  discriminating  duties 
on  foreign  productions  are  as  indispensable  to  infuse  life  and  ac- 
tivity into  the  other  branches  of  industry,  as  those  on  tonnage  to 
sustain  navigation  ;  and  that  the  same  system  of  policy  which  sus- 
tained Ameriean  commerce  in  its  infancy,  has  been  happily  applied 
to  its  manufactures,  and  produced  the  same  beueOcial  results  on  the 
country  at  large. 

Look  to  what  part  we  will,  we  see  the  extension  of  improvement. 
Those  parts  which  have  been  the  longest  settled,  far  from  exhibiting 
the  symptoms  of  declining  age,  are  still  growing  in  all  the  vigor  of 
youth,  while  they  are  planting  their  colonies  in  what  a  few  years 
since  was  a  wilderness,  where  no  white  man  lived  save  the  Indian 
trader,  or  the  scattered  remnants  of  the  Canadian  settlers ;  new 
States  are  now  assuming  th^'ir  equal  station  in  the  confederacy, 
and  rising  to  greatness  with  a  rapidity  unknown  in  the  history  of 
nations. 

Equally  progressive,  though  with  unequal  steps,  the  old   States 
and  the  new  are  increasing  in  population,  agriculture,  coaiiiu;rce,an<i 
2 


10 

manufactures  ;  yet,  widely  as  they  are  separated,  varied  as  are  their 
productions,  their  occupations,  habits,  and  local  institutions,  they 
are  but  the  component  parts  of  one  great  whole,  united  by  one 
common  interest,  which  brings  to  the  commercial  emporium  the 
buyer  and  seller,  the  producer  and  the  consumer,  the  merchant 
and  his  customers — all  profiting  by  purchase  or  exchange,  and  ea(>h 
contributing  to  the  thrift  of  the  other. 

If  there  is  any  one  class  of  society  to  whom  this  state  of  things 
is  more  profitable  than  another,  it  is  to  that  which  is  employed  in  the 
pursuits  of  commerce ;  all  others  are  dependent  upon  them  for  the 
sale  and  exchange  of  their  surplus  productions,  and  their  distribution 
and  consumption  in  distant  or  foreign  markets.  Whatever  increases 
this  surplus  for  distribution  through  the  various  parts  of  our  coun. 
try,  or  exportation,  is  the  creation  of  new  materials  for  com- 
merce, and  enlarged  profits  in  navigation  ;  and  whatever  increases 
the  profits  of  those  wVio  produce  or  fabricate  articles  for  sale,  ex- 
change, or  freight,  makes  them  the  more  valuable  customers  for  the 
merchant.  Nsed  it  be  asked,  whether  the  exportation  of  near  four 
millions  of  domes  tic  manufactures  is  in  aid  of  the  operations  of  com- 
merce, or  whether  the  transportation  of  cotton  from  the  place  of 
production  to  the  place  of  its  domestic  manufacture,  from  thence 
to  the  consumers,  and  the  export  of  two  milUons  and  a  half  of  cotton 
goods  to  foreign  markets,  contributes  more  to  reward  comn>ercial 
enterprize  than  the  importation  of  the  same  amount  of  foreign  man. 
ufactures  ?  Nor  need  an  appeal  be  made  to  any  one  present,  whether 
his  property  consists  in  lands,  or  lots  in  town  or  country,  here  or 
any  where  within  the  wide  boundaries  of  our  republic,  in  merchan- 
dise, in  shipping,  in  stocks,  or  other  securities — if  he  believes  that 
the  profits  which  any  of  the  mechanics  or  manufacturers  may  have 
acquired  in  their  various  pursuits  have  been  at  his  expense.  If  every 
branch  of  protected  industry  which  has  produced  the  various  articles 
which  compose  this  exhibition  should  be  displaced  by  foreign  com- 
petition, is  there  any  one  who  hears  me  who  would  not  feel  its  ef- 
fects with  regret ;  nay,  if  any  one  item  in  this  splendid  display  should 
be  thrust  from  the  pale  of  protection,  and  no  specimen  of  its  domes- 
tic manufacture  be  found  at  some  future  anniversary  of  this  Insti- 
tute,  is  theie  any  man  whose  feeUngs  it  would  gratify,  or  whose 
interests  it  would  advance  ] 

We  have  all  witnessed  the  expansion  and  contraction  of  the  great 
interests  of  the  country ;  and  though  we  may  not  all  agree  in  opinion 
as  to  the  causes  which  have  produced  the  varying  results,  we  cannot 
disagree  in  the  fact,  that  within  the  last  two  years  there  has  been  a 
marked  and  decided  change  in  its  general  state,  and  that  it  has  been 
from  the  worse  to  the  better.  That  the  national  legislature  has 
acted  on  its  most  interesting  concerns  in  the  regulation  of  its  com- 
mercial intercourse,  and  the  efficient  protection  of  its  industry, 
by  increasing  the  duties  on  imports,  and  disencumbering  the  pur- 
suits of  our  citizens  from  the  burthens  and  obstructions  placed  upon 
them  by  foreign  governments.  The  laws  passed  during  this  period 
were  of  no  doubtful  character ;  their  provisions  have  borne  directly 
on  every  interest,  and  cannot  hav<!  failed  to  impress  their  eiFects  on 
every  thing  they  regulated.  Our  personal  knowledge  of  the  condi- 
tion of  the  country,  from  the  close  of  the  late  war  till  1823,  and  its 
exhibition  in  the  public  documents,  presents  the  recollection  of  a 
gloomy  disheartening  scene,  which  no  friend  to  its  welfare  would 


n 

not  be  unwilling  to  witness  again.  Since  then  there  has  been  a 
"  transition  from  gloom  to  glory,"  in  one  great  department  of  ind us. 
try,  and  from  adversity  to  prosperity  in  all. 

As  the  effects  of  legislation  became  unfolded  in  their  operations, 
this  transition  became  visible  in  the  field,  the  town,  the  workshop, 
the  manufactory,  the  river,  the  seaport,  and  on  the  ocean  ;  life,  ac- 
tivity, and  success,  were  infused  into  all  occupations ;  each  succeed- 
ing year  expanded  the  old,  and  developed  new  sources  of  wealth  as 
incentives  to  labor  and  rewards  to  industry.  And  while  foreign 
manufactures  were  gradually  disappearing  in  our  markets,  domestic 
ones  supplied  their  place  to  the  advantage  of  the  consumer.  Whether 
this  change  was  brought  about  by  the  protecting  poUcy  of  these  laws, 
or  some  invisible  intangible  principle,  not  before  operative  or  percepti- 
ble, produced  these  effects  without  or  in  spite  of  legislation — whether 
the  benefits  which  have  gone  hand  in  hand,  or  elosely  followed  the 
action  of  the  laws,  are  the  direct  emanations  from  their  provisions, 
as  the  effects  of  the  moving  cause,  or  have  been  elicited  by  the  col- 
lision of  legislation  with  the  doctrine  of  a  political  prince, — matters 
but  little  to  those  who  are  anxious  only  to  discover  and  follow  the 
road  to  private  and  public  happiness. 

The  advocates  of  a  protecting  system  may  trace  its  efTects  in  the 
altered  condition  of  things  since  its  developement ;  its  opponents 
may  believe  that  our  progression  has  been  owing  to  other  more 
operative  causes,  existing  in  the  practical  application  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  political  economy  ;  but  when  the  fact  is  conceded,  that 
all  the  interests  of  the  nation  are  in  a  healthy  thriving  condition, 
it  is  also  an  admission,  that  the  system  has  at  least  been  harmless  iu 
its  operation.  Whether  a  greater  degree  of  success  would  have 
rewarded  the  labor  of  the  people  without  it,  is  matter  of  opinion  and 
argument.  Those  who  are  impressed  with  this  conviction,  however, 
would  scarcely  venture  to  hazard  their  own  interests  by  an  endeavor 
to  so  modify  the  existing  system  as  to  withdraw  the  protection  it 
affords  to  that  branch  of  industry  in  which -they  are  employed,  and 
leave  it  to  regulate  itself  by  the  rules  of  the  science  against  the  com- 
mercial regulations  and  policy  of  foreign  nations.  They  would 
surely  not  expect  that  those  who  hail  the  protecting  system  as  the 
source  of  our  greatest  blessings,  will  act  on  the  principles  urged 
in  argument,  but  discarded  in  practice.  They  at  least  must  be  per- 
mitted to  await  the  result  of  a  practical  experiment  upon  an  unpro- 
tected, unregulated  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and  the  naviga- 
tion of  the  country  carried  on  without  discriminating  duties  on  ton- 
nage and  merchandise,  or  reciprocity,  before  they  can  consent  to 
put  their  own  interest  in  jeopardy.  By  disavowing  their  opinions, 
and  the  policy  under  which  it  flourishes,  or  in  following  abstract 
principles,  which  neither  the  lessons  of  experience  or  the  instructive 
facts  before  us  can  sanction,  the  substance  may  be  lost  by  the  pur- 
suit of  the  shadow.  If  we  are  not  content  with  our  present  condi- 
tion and  seek  to  improve  it  by  the  adoption  of  some  other  system, 
we  ought  to  have  some  assurance  at  least  of  indemnity. 

The  public  documents  exhibit  to  us  the  balance  sheets  of  the  na- 
tion for  the  last  ten  years,  in  the  combined  results  of  its  industry  ; 
and  the  condition  of  the  country  enables  us  to  ascertain  to  which 
side  of  the  profit  and  loss  account  the  balance  of  our  foreign  com- 
merce is  lo  be  carried.  But,  large  as  it  is,  this  is  now  a  matter  of 
small  concert!  in  comparison  to  the  coasting  and  internal  trade, 


12 

\rbich  has  swelled  to  an  amount  beyond  calculation  ;  for  who  would 
compute  the  extent  of  the  fruits  ot  that  industry,  which  after  sup- 
plying  the  demands  of  fifteen  millions  of  people  furnishes  seven 
millions  for  exportation.  It  is  in  this  great  department  that  the  rising 
greatness  and  glowing  prospects  of  the  country  appear  in  dazzling 
brightness,  while  its  foreign  commerce,  though  buoyant  on  the  full 
tide  of  successful  pursuits,  emits  but  the  paler  ray.  Though  in  the 
sphere  of  its  operations  it  takes  a  wider  range,  the  amount  of  cap- 
ital employed,  of  exchanges  made,  and  profits  earned,  is  less  than 
in  the  purchase,  exchange,  and  transportation  of  the  raw  materials 
and  provisions  of  the  south  and  west,  and  the  manufactures  of  the 
eastern,  middle,  and  western  states. 

Had  this  been  predicted  ten  years  ago,  it  would  have  been  called 
the^dream  of  an  enthusiast;  and  so  would  an  assertion,  that  a  Fair, 
prepared  with  all  the  labors  of  the  then  Mercantile  Society  of  this 
place,  would,  within  twenty  years,  have  been  of  the  character  of 
those  which  have  now  for  the  seventh  time  been  opened  under  the 
auspices  of  the  American  Institute. 

The  most  zealous  friends  of  the  American  system  have  been 
astonished  at  its  results.  They  had  calculated  on  a  steady  uniform 
progress  in  all  the  business  of  the  country,  but  were  not  prepared 
for  this  mighty  expansion  of  all  its  resources.  We  had  been  led  to 
expect,  that  our  estfJblishments  could  become  matured  only  in  the 
fulness  of  time,  and  that  the  fruition  of  our  hopes  might  not  be 
realized  till  the  present  generation  had  passed  away.  We  had  been 
so  long  in  the  habit  of  looking  to  Europe  for  the  rules  and  course  of 
trade,  for  the  effects  of  the  action  of  individuals  and  government 
on  the  industry  of  the  country,  that  we  had  not  been  led  to  expect 
the  accomplishment  of  our  wishes  at  so  early  a  period.  The 
character  of  the  American  people  seems  to  have  been  unknown  to 
ourselves,  or  not  to  have  been  duly  appreciated  :  slow  to  move  in 
any  new  pursuit,  ardent  and  persevering  in  the  prosecution  of  all 
their  undertakings,  all  experience  had  long  taught  us  that  they 
were  rising  in  power  as  a  nation,  and  happiness  as  men,  yet  the 
example  of  no  people  had  ever  shown  that  what  was  gained  in 
power  was  not  lost  in  time. 

Judging  from  the. scene  which  has  been  before  our  eyes,  and  the 
scene  around  us,  as  exhibiting  the  condition  of  the  whole  country, 
there  seems  to  be  an  inventive  creating  spirit  pervading  all  its 
works,  which  does  not  wait  the  slow  and  tedious  march  of  time  for 
its  devflopement.  Whether  it  is  in  the  air  we  breathe,  or  exists  in 
the  nature  of  our  institutions  and  system  of  policy,  there  is  some- 
thing like  the  presiding  genius  of  invention  and  improvement 
hovering  around  the  useful  acts  of  the  nation,  which  impels  them 
onward  with  giant  growth. 

The  exhibitions  of  this  Institute  afford  evidence  that  cannot  err ; 
each  item  attests  the  fact,  that  whenever  government  removes  the 
foreign  obstructions  on  the  industry  of  the  nation,  and  the  people 
are  left  free  from  foreign  control  in  its  pursuits,  their  skill  and  per- 
severance changes  the  face  of  the  country,  by  establishments  which 
are  completed,  and  whose  productions  are  exhibited  for  our  admira- 
tion before  we  are  aware  of  their  existence. 

As  the  practical  effect  of  a  protecting  system,  these  exhibitions 
speak  a  language  which  strikes  deeper  into  the  mind  than  argument 
or  reason  ;  when  a  question  is  to  be  solved  by  a  theory,  principle,  or 


19 

opinion,  as  to  what  has  been,  what  is,  or  what  will  be,  the  result  of 
any  measure  of  government  on  the  interests  of  society,  public  senti- 
ment will  remain  divided  till  facts  remove  doubts,  and  silence  dis- 
cussion. Thousands,  who  would  never  yield  their  preconceived 
opinions  to  human  authority,  have  surrendered  them  to  the  convic- 
tion of  the  senses,  and  the  force  of  the  testimony  of  the  articles 
exhibited  at  this  Fair,  which  are  the  silent  witnesses  of  the  truth 
which  is  in  them,  and  the  dumb  orators  who  have  made  more  con- 
verts to  the  American  system  than  proud  man  in  the  plenitude  of 
human  intelligence  has  done,  by  all  the  efforts  of  reason,  the  pro- 
fundity oflearning,  or  the  charms  of  eloquence.  It  is  mainly  owing  to 
these  that  opposition  has  been  disarmed,  ancient  feuds  turned  to  last- 
ing friendship;  and  the  great  interests  of  the  country,  once  thought 
to  be  rivals,  if  not  hostile  to  each  other,  have  now  become  so  har- 
moniously connected  in  their  effects  upon  each  other  and  the  whole 
country,  as  to  carry  it  forward  to  the  height  of  greatness  with  the  ve- 
locity of  a  steamboat,  moving  in  all  the  majesty  of  mechanical  power. 

And  who  that  witnesses  this  community  of  interest,  which 
unites  all  society  by  the  chain  of  mutual  support,  would  if  he  could 
dissolve  it,  by  striking  from  it  the  mechanical  and  manufacturing 
links  which  connect  the  agricultural  with  the  commercial,  and  force 
those  who  are  engaged  in  their  pursuits  to  resort  to  foreign  agency 
to  continue  the  connection  between  them.  Complete  success  has 
attended  the  system  which  now  unites  all  the  departments  of 
national  industry ;  we  ought  to  cling  to  it,  not  merely  for  the  good  it 
has  effected,  but  the  venerated  sources  from  which  it  sprung.  The 
great  principles  on  which  the  American  system  is  erected  were 
asserted  in  the  first  dawnings  of  the  revolution  ;  resistance  to  par- 
liamentary taxation,  and  the  encouragement  of  domestic  manufac- 
tures, were  the  kindred  emanations  from  the  spirit  of  independence ; 
but  one  sentiment  prevailed  with  individuals,  in  town  meetings, 
in  county  and  provincial  conventions,  and  in  Congress,  from  their 
first  assembling  in  1774,  till  the  establishment  of  the  constitution. 
The  first  confedpration  between  the  colonies  was  an  association 
drawn  up  in  Congress  in  October  1774,  and  signed  by  all  the 
members,  in  which  "  for  themselves  and  the  inhabitants  of  the 
colonies  whom  they  represented,  they  firmly  agreed  and  associated 
under  the  sacred  ties  of  virtue,  honor,  and  love  of  country,  thaf, 
•  we  will  in  our  several  stations  encourage  economy,  frugality,  and 
industry,  and  promote  agriculture,  arts,  and  the  manufactures  of 
this  Country,  especially  that  of  wool.'  " 

When  the  several  colonies  became  independent  states,  and 
adopted  the  articles  of  confedoration  recommended  by  Congress, 
each  retained  and  expresply  roerved  a  right,  which  is  the  basis 
of  the  American  system  of  protection  to  agriculture,  the  arts,  the 
manufactures,  and  commerce  of  the  country,  nay,  its  vital  princi- 
ple. The  States  deemed  this  right  to  be  too  precious  to  be  dele, 
gated,  and  its  exercise  too  indispensable,  to  their  means  of  happi- 
ness, to  be  entrusted  to  any  body  of  men  except  the  immediate 
representatives  of  the  people. 

The  ninth  article  of  confederation,  which  gave  Congress  power 
to  enter  into  treaties  and  alliances,  provided,  "  that  no  treaty  of 
commerce  shall  be  made  whereby  the  legislative  power  of  the  res- 
pective States  shall  be  restrained  from  imposing  such  duties  and  m- 
posts  on  foreigners  as  their  own  people  are  subjected  to,  or  from  pro- 
3 


14 

hJbiting  the  exportation  or  importation  of  any  species  of  goods  or 
commodities  whatsoever." 

Nothing  could  so  clearly  denote  the  state  of  pubHc  opinion,  as  in 
this  denial  of  a  power  to  impose  duties  and  imposts  in  the  same  in- 
Btrument  which  delegated  the  powers  of  war,  peace,  and  of  forming 
alliances,  without  restriction.  No  rule  of  policy  in  our  commercial 
intercourse  with  foreigners  could  so  strongly  manifest  the  determi- 
nation to  resist  and  counteract  all  foreign  laws,  which  impose  bur- 
thens upon  the  people  of  the  States  ;  and  no  means  devised  whereby 
their  industry  could  be  so  effectually  protected  from  injurious  foreign 
competition,  as  that  pointed  out — "  Imposing  such  imposts  and  du- 
ties on  foreigners  as  our  own  people  are  subjected  lo  by  them." 

If  this  could  have  been  done  by  the  Congress  of  the  confederation, 
the  fruits  of  the  revolution  would  have  been  soener  reahsed,  but  as 
the  States  would  not  act  in  concert  in  regulating  commerce  or  im- 
posing duties  on  imports,  and  Congress  could  not  act,  except  by  re- 
commendations, the  call  for  a  new  government  became  universal, 
and  in  the  constitution  which  created  it,  there  was  a  grant  of  all  the 
powers  necessary  to  effectuate  the  objects  of  its  institution. 

The  first  work  of  the  new  government  was  the  establishment 
of  an  American  system,  in  the  spirit  and  on  the  principle  of  the  re- 
volution. It  announced  to  the  people  the  great  outlines  of  its  policy 
in  the  preamble  to  the  first  revenue  law,  by  declaring  that  duties 
■were  laid  on  goods,  wares  and  merchandise  imported,  for  the  sup- 
port of  government,  for  the  discharge  of  the  debts  of  the  United 
States,  and  the  encouragement  and  protection  of  manufactures.  The 
provisions  of  this  law  develope,  in  strong  light,  the  leading  features 
of  the  system,  in  the  duties  imposed  on  the  imported  products  of 
the  land,  the  sea,  and  manufactures,  and  the  heavy  discrimination  of 
duties  between  articles  imported  in  American  and  foreign  vessels. 

But  the  protecting  principle  was  more  strongly  developed  in  the 
act  for  imposing  duties  on  tonnage,  as  a  measure  of  countervailing 
policy  against  the  operation  of  the  British  navigation  laws ;  and  by 
an  unvarying  course  of  legislation  since,  it  has  been  carried  to  the 
full  extent  of  imposing  on  foreigners  the  same  duties  to  which  our 
own  navigation  is  subjected,  and  is  relaxed  only  in  favor  of  those 
nations  whose  navigating  interest  is  protected  by  no  discriminating 
duties  between  their  and  American  shipping  entering  their  ports. 

This  was  in  accordance  with  the  great  purposes  of  the  constitu- 
tion. In  giving  to  Congress  the  power  to  regulate  commerce,  it  was 
not  intended  that  it  should  be  left  to  regulate  itself,  still  less  to 
permit  foreign  nations  to  regulate  it  for  themselves  and  us  without 
counter-action.  Nor  when  the  States  had  parted  with  their  power 
to  impose  such  duties  on  imports,  as  other  nations  imposed  on  their 
exports,  could  Congress  fulfil  their  obligations  to  the  people  by  de- 
clining to  execute  this  power  for  their  protection.  They  were  bound 
to  exert  it  to  any  extent  which  the  interest  of  the  country  required  ; 
at  least,  so  far  as  either  to  coerce  other  nations  to  adopt  the  rule  of 
reciprocity  in  trade  and  commercial  regulations,  or,  if  the  attempt 
should  be  fruitless,  to  meet  duty  by  duty,  regulation  by  regulation, 
law  by  law. 

No  government  can  be  faithful  to  the  people  who  support  it,  that 
yould  be  content  with  less — for  it  is  the  only  means  whereby  their 
infant  establishments  of  manufactures  and  navigation  could  be 
tescued  from  foreign  control,  or  the  country  enjoy  the  benefits  of  its 


15 

own  rcBources.  The  happy  eflTects  of  the  course  of  the  goremment, 
in  its  early  operations,  soon  became  visible  in  the  successful  pursuit 
of  all  those  occupations  which  were  embraced  within  its  guardian- 
ship ;  in  whatever  branch  of  industry  there  was  a  domestic  capaci* 
ty  to  supply  the  domestic  demand,  the  competition  among  our  own 
citizens  prevented  undue  exaction. 

The  monopoly  of  the  coasting  trade,  and  the  preference  in  the 
foreign,  which  our  navigation  acts  gave  to  American  vessels,  was  a 
benefit  to  the  whole  country  ;  and  so  far  as  any  article  of  manufac 
tures  was  secured  from  foreign  control,  by  protecting  duties  on  im- 
ports, the  same  consequences  were  apparent ;  and  had  this  protection 
been  gradually  expanded,  according  to  the  growing  capacity  of  the 
country  to  supply,  it  is  most  confidently  believed  that  public  opinion 
would  long  since  have  been  unanimous  in  its  favor. 

It  was  only  necessary  to  follow  up  the  original  policy  of  the  gov- 
ernment, and  to  apply  it  from  time  to  time  to  any  item  of  the  pro- 
ductions of  domestic  labor  which  could  be  encouraged  without  a 
permanent  burthen  to  the  consumer.  As  tlie  progress  of  the  coun- 
try developed  the  actual  results  of  its  legislation,  and  especially  af- 
ter the  late  war  had,  by  the  extinguishment  of  foreign  commerce, 
forced  the  country  into  the  necessity  of  manufacturing  their  own 
materials,  and  practically  demonstrated  its  abundant  capacity  of  a 
competent  production,  the  return  of  peace  was  thought  to  be  the 
time  for  a  revision  of  our  revenue  laws,  and  an  extension  of  pro- 
tection to  many  articles  not  before  encouraged  by  any  other  than 
an  ordinary  duty  for  revenue.  The  tariff  of  1816  operated  upon  its 
protected  articles  with  the  same  results  as  had  been  before  apparent 
— in  economy  to  the  consumer,  by  the  improved  quality  and  dimin- 
ished price  of  the  domestic  production.  When  the  experience  of 
more  than  thirty  years,  without  an  exception,  had  practically  shown 
this  fact,  a  more  general  system  of  protection  was  adopted,  afler  a 
most  protracted  and  excited  discussion :  the  tariff  of  1824  was 
avowedly  for  the  encouragement  and  protection  of  domestic  manu- 
factures, and  that  of  1828  still  more  decidedly  so. 

We  are  all  witnesses  of  their  effects ;  the  tree  and  its  fruits  are 
before  us — are  they  good  or  evil  1  The  whole  country  has  tasted  of 
them,  and  they  are  not  only  goodly  to  the  eye,  but  have  proved  to  be 
healthful  to  the  body  politic. 

There  is  no  evidence  that  the  consumer  or  exporter  of  domestic 
manufactures  has  used,  sold,  or  exchanged  them  at  a  loss  ;  if  their 
materials,  texture,  quality,  or  appearance,  is  inferior  to  the  imported 
article,  or  higher  in  price  in  the  domestic  market,  than  in  the  place 
of  their  production  abroad,  it  is  difficult  to  account  for  the  admitted 
fact,  that  they  command  a  foreign  market.  The  exporter  must  pay 
the  price  in  the  home  market,  and  being  entitled  to  the  benefit  of  a 
drawback  on  the  foreign  article,  duties  give  no  preference  to  the  do- 
mestic ;  the  purchaser  is  therefore  governed  only  by  the  quality  and 
price.  In  the  foreign  market,  the  foreign  and  the  domestic  articles 
are  on  neutral  ground,  where  there  is  no  protection  to  either,  other 
than  in  those  inducements  to  the  purchaser  which  tend  to  his  own 
interest.  This  fact  alone  must  dissipate  the  illusion,  that  protect- 
ing duties  are  of  course  an  addition  to  the  price  of  an  article  in  the 
domestic  market,  or  a  tax  on  the  many  for  the  benefit  of  a  few. 

Another  fact,  now  evident  in  the  course  of  trade,  is  equally  con- 
vincing to  show  the  small  effect  of  duties  upon  the  price  of  imported 


16 

J  foods,  whether  they  are  articles  of  comfort,  necessity,  or  luxury, 
bod,  or  raiment,  the  product  of  agriculture  or  manufactures.  Tho 
price  of  tea,  coffee,  worsted  stufl"  and  silk  goods,  has  not  faMen  to 
the  extent  of  the  duties  reduced  or  repealed  ;  and  it  is  believed  that 
some  articles  have  raised  in  price,  and  that  none  have  declined  in 
proportion  to  the  reduced  duties.     (See  Appendix.) 

From  these  facts  we  may  draw  instructive  lessons ;  they  teach 
us  that  domestic  competition  is  the  only  security  against  foreign 
exaction,  and  that  when  we  are  dependent  on  the  foreign  market 
exclusively  for  our  supply,  the  price  of  the  article  will  be  regulated, 
not  by  the  cost  or  value  of  the  production,  but  the  wants  of  the 
consumer.  It  is  in  facts  alone  that  political  truths  can  be  found  ; 
they  are  the  book  of  nature  and  of  life,  enabling  us  to  trace  the  effects 
of  systems  of  policy  on  the  course  and  operation  of  trade  and  human 
industry  in  ail  the  occupations  of  society.  They  are  the  elements 
of  the  practical  science  of  government  and  politics,  which  test  the 
wisdom  of  its  measures  by  their  effects  on  the  community  :  the 
touchstone  to  which  to  apply  theories,  doctrines,  or  received  princi- 
ples, by  which  to  decide  whether  they  are  the  illusions  of  the  ima- 
gination, or  the  steady  rules  which  govern  human  action  in  the  va- 
rious pursuits  of  man.  When  facts  speak,  it  is  the  voice  of  nature, 
and  must  be  obeyed  ;  facts  are  stubborn,  unyielding,  obstinate ;  rea- 
soning is  lost  upon  them  ;  principles  may  be  drawn  from  them, 
which  are  safe  guides  to  individuals  and  nations,  but  the  conduct  of 
both  must  be  without  wisdom,  reason,  or  correct  results,  whenever 
it  is  attempted  to  force  theories  into  them,  instead  of  extracting 
truth  and  principles  from  them. 

Do  we  want  to  understand  the  science  of  political  economy,  in 
order  to  learn  what  is  the  strongest,  safest,  most  permanent  foun- 
dation of  national  prosperity,  we  look  first  to  the  frame  of  our  gov- 
ernment, next  to  its  laws,  and  then  to  their  effects  as  displayed 
throughout  the  country.  If  in  all  its  movements  we  find  the  ma- 
chinery impelling  it  to  greatness,  with  a  controlling  moral  influence 
abroad,  and  general  happiness  at  home,  the  statesman  can  accom- 
plish and  the  patriot  can  desire  no  more,  and  no  citizen  should  risk 
what  he  enjoys,  by  wishing  to  disturb  the  social  order  around  him. 

In  its  legislation  on  the  industry  of  the  people,  our  government 
has  followed  the  steps  of  its  founders.  In  completing  their  work,  it 
has  been  guided  by  the  spirit  which  descended  to  them  from  the 
Congress  of  1774 ;  it  has  promoted  agriculture,  the  arts,  and  the 
manufactures  of  this  country.  It  has  adopted  and  developed  the  great 
principle  of  policy,  consecrated  in  the  confederation,  of  imposing  on 
foreigners  the  same  imposts  and  duties  as  our  people  are  subjected 
to  ;  and  thus  and  otherwise,  in  regulating  commerce  with  foreign  na- 
tions, and  laying  and  collecting  imposts  and  duties  for  the  support  of 
government,  the  payment  of  the  debts  of  the  country,  and  the  protec- 
tion and  encouragement  of  domestic  manufactures,  effected  the  great 
objects,  by  executing  the  powers  conferred  by  the  constitution. 

If  human  authority  can  give  sanction  to  a  system — if  there  have 
been  any  men  whose  opinions  ought  to  be  regarded  as  maxims,  and 
whose  principles  and  rules  of  action  are  entitled  to  respect,  through 
all  time, — they  are  those  who  signed  the  association  of  1774,  the 
confederation  of  1781,  who  framed  the  constitution,  and  devised  the 
American  system  of  policy  in  1789. 
i.    Till  wiser  and  safer  counsellors  shall  appear,  to  instruct  us  with 


17 

flounder  maxima,  to  igppress  upon  ub  more  practical  truths,  and  gire 
assurance  that  more  pubhc  good  will  follow  a  change  of  policy,  or 
an  abandonment  of  a  system,  thus  adopted  and  matured,  than  by 
adhering  to  it — the  trodden  path  is  the  safest ;  laid  out  in  wisdom 
and  illumined  by  experience,  it  has  been  the  road  in  which  our 
country  has  made  an  onward  progress  to  its  present  condition.  It 
has  not  been  without  its  alternations  of  prosperity  and  dechne;  but 
ultimate  success  has  rewarded  national  industry  in  all  employments, 
and  the  system  by  which  it  has  been  regulated  has  not  only  dissipated 
all  the  fears  entertained  by  its  adoption,  but  more  than  realised  all 
the  benefits  anticipated  by  its  most  zealous  advocates.  As  lately 
modified,  this  system  does  not  consist  in  the  rate  of  duty  alone ;  its 
essence  is  in  an  efficient  discrimination  between  the  foreign  and  do. 
mestic  product,  so  assessed,  enforced,  and  paid,  as  to  be  an  actual 
toll  in  our  market,  to  the  extent  of  the  duty  ;  and  so  apportioned, 
that  whatever  is  paid  into  the  treasury  by  imports  shall  be  operative 
in  the  protection  and  encouragement  of  national  industry. 

A  moderate  duty,  faithfully  assessed  and  promptly  paid,  without 
evasion  or  fraud,  is  the  most  effectual  protection  ;  after  manufac- 
turing establishments  have  acquired  a  maturity,  the  possession 
of  the  market  at  home,  and  produced  a  surplus  for  exportation, 
the  duty  ceases  to  operate  to  protect  them,  they  can  protect  them* 
selves, — if  such  duties  remain  as  counteract  the  bounties,  premi- 
ums, drawbacks,  and  other  advantages  which  the  regulations  of 
foreign  governments  givjB  to  the  exporters  of  their  manufactures. 
If  none  should  exist,  and  any  assurance  could  be  given,  that 
combinations  of  foreign  capitalists  would  not  for  a  time  fill  our 
markets  at  a  price  below  he  cost,  in  order  to  break  down  the  com- 
petition of  our  own  manufacturers,  and  thus  secure  its  permanent 
supply  for  the  future  at  whatever  price  they  may  exact,  the  repeal 
of  the  duty  on  any  article  which  can  find  a  foreign  market  with  a 
profit,  or  which  by  its  quality  and  price  has  excluded  the  foreign 
article  from  ours,  would  be  harmless  in  its  effects. 

But  when  the  domestic  market  is  in  the  possession  of  the  foreign, 
er,  and  while  manufactures  are  in  their  infant  state,  the  foreign 
article  can  be  superseded  only  by  such  duties  as  will  place  the 
domestic  in  a  position  of  competition,  on  equal  terms,  which  coun- 
terbalances  the  advantages  of  possession  and  of  foreign  regulations. 

In  applying  these  views  to  the  late  modifications  of  the  system, 
there  is  great  reason  to  indulge  the  confident  hope,  that  they  will 
produce  no  injurious  consequences ;  on  the  contrary,  much  good 
may  follow,  if  it  is  properly  understood  and  duly  appreciated.  An 
exciting  alarming  subiect  of  controversy  has  been  put  at  rest,  a 
distracting  question  of  national  policy  has  been  settled  in  a  spirit 
of  compromise,  by  mutual  concession ;  the  one  party  receding  in 
the  rate  of  duty,  the  other  advancing  in  beneficial  regulations  to 
secure  the  prompt  payment ;  and  as  in  all  compromises,  both  acting 
in  good  and  mutual  faith  to  carry  its  outlines  into  detail.  As  an 
established  land-mark  between  neighbors  by  mutual  consent,  it 
will  be  respected  by  each  as  their  own  act ;  as  an  amicable  mea- 
sure, it  will  conciliate  and  unite  opinions  heretofore  in  collision, 
and  will  be  more  calculated  to  ensure  its  own  perpetuity,  than  if  it 
had  been  passed  by  mere  numbers  or  a  majority  however  decisive. 

This  measure  must  not  now  be  viewed,  as  it  would  have  been, 
while  the  manufactures  of  the  country  were  prostrated,  though  it 


18 

fdight  not  have  sufficed  to  sustain  existing  or  to  encourage  the 
establishment  of  new  ones  ten  years  ago ;  yet  it  must  be  remem. 
bered,   that  after  a   long  successful   progress   under  the  decisive 

Erotection  of  former  laws,  the  present  acts  upon  them  in  their 
ealthy  thriving  condition.  The  capacity  of  the  country  to  supply 
its  consumption  is  now  ascertained  beyond  all  doubt,  by  the  tact 
of  the  exportation  of  its  manufactures  in  amounts  annually  in> 
creasing;  the  dead  point  has  been  passed,  the  domestic  article  is 
in  possession  of  the  domestic  market,  and  the  foreign  artisan  must 
now  struggle  as  hard  to  recover  it  as  ours  have  done  to  oust  them. 
Possession  is  as  important  in  trade  as  in  law,  perhaps  of  the  two 
the  easiest  to  maintain,  and  the  most  difficult  to  divest ;  and  who 
that  has  looked  upon  these  specimens  of  our  domestic  merchandize, 
which  we  have  seen  displayed  at  the  Fair,  and  now  command  the 
domestic  and  foreign  market,  by  the  aid  of  past  protection,  can 
doubt  their  ability  to  maintain  their  possession  with  what  is  secured 
to  them  for  the  future.  It  is  scarcely  credible  that  the  foreigner, 
who  must  pay  on  entry  a  double  tythe,  for  the  privilege  of  a 
market,  can  continue  a  profitable  competition  with  our  own  citizens, 
who  pay  no  toll, — who  are  protected  by  public  policy,  public  opinion, 
and  by  laws  which  inflict  heavy  penalties  for  evasions,  and  for- 
feitures  for  frauds.  If  the  efficiency  of  the  protecting  system  has 
been  impaired  by  the  reduction  of  the  duties  on  imposts,  it  has  been 
greatly  strengthened  by  the  reduction  of  credits;  their  extension 
was  a  crying  evil  in  the  former  laws,  which  called  loudly  for  the 
change,  and  having  been  repealed  leaves  the  protection  efficient. 
After  an  anxious  consideration  of  the  existing  system  in  its  general 
provisions,  and  great  outlines,  a  confident  belief  is  entertained,  that 
in  (he  then  existing  stale  of  the  nation,  of  public  opinion,  and  the 
manufacturing  interest  of  the  countrj',  it  was  a  measure  of  wise 
and  sound  policy,  conducive  to  the  public  peace,  the  harmony  of 
the  national  councils,  and  not  injurious  to  its  prosperity  in  the 
aggregate  or  any  of  its  great  constituent  powers. 

In  relation  to  that  branch  of  national  industry  in  which  you,  Mr. 
President,  the  Members  of  this  iHstitute,  and  your  associates  in 
their  respective  stations  in  public  and  private  life,  have  felt  the 
liveliest  interest,  not  because  it  more  deserved,  but  more  needed 
national  protection,  my  settled  conviction  has  been,  and  is,  that 
the  compromising  bill  is  a  salutary  one  ;  that  it  was  happily  timed  ; 
and  that  if  it  had  not  been  passed,  there  was  strong  reason  for  the 
most  alarming  apprehension  for  the  safety  of  the  manufacturing 
interest  at  the  ensuing  session.  The  times  were  excited,  an  angry 
spirit  was  abroad,  the  protection  of  manufactures  by  discrimi. 
nating  duties  had  become  not  merely  a  party  question,  but  one 
attended  with  most  dangerous  consequences  to  the  peace  and 
interest  of  the  nation.  It  had  become  a  local  one  ;  one  section  of 
the  country  seemed  in  array  against  the  other,  and  every  indication 
pointed  to  the  disastrous  effects  of  a  protracted  discussion.  It  was 
accepted  in  the  spirit  of  peace  and  conciliation,  which  for  a  time 
seemed  to  have  disappeared,  but  came  at  the  appointed  hour, 
with  healing  in  its  wings  ;  the  storm  was  allayed,  harmony  once 
more  ptrvaded  the  halls  of  legislation,  and  local  excitement  ceased, 
— it  is  most  devoutly  to  be  hoped,  forever. 

So  far  as  its  consequences  have  been  developed,  they  seem  to  have 
made  no  impression  of  an  unfavorable  kind  oh  the  operations  of  jn- 


19 

dustry;  whether  other  causes  have  operated  injuriously,  can  be  no 
subject  of  inquiry  on  this  occasion,  nor  can  it  be  ascertained  till 
the  balance  sheet  of  the  current  year  shall  be  exhibited  by  the  trea- 
sury, showing  the  kind  and  amount  of  exports.  On  the  first  pro- 
mulgation of  the  measure,  it  was  feared  by  many  that  the  protec- 
tive principle  had  been  abandoned.  But  these  fears  are  not  justified 
by  its  provisions  ;  the  reduction  of  duties  is  gradual, — spread  over 
nine  years,  it  can  cause  no  sudden  revulsion;  it  operates  on  estab- 
lished successful  manufactures,  which  aiford  every  prospect  of  at- 
taining a  foundation  too  solid  to  be  affected  by  foreign  competition 
before  the  reduction  is  completed.  The  permanent  duty  is  not  nom- 
inal ;  twenty  per  cent,  is  a  high  toll  to  pay,  for  the  privilege  of  even 
competition  in  our  market.  Duties  are  no  longer  a  loan  and  bounty 
to  the  foreign  manufacturer;  their  prompt  payment  is  an  effectual 
tax  upon  him,  not,  as  before,  the  means  of  accumulating  his  capi- 
tal by  a  credit  for  which  he  paid  no  interest. 

In  contrasting  therefore  the  present  with  former  laws,  there 
seems  no  good  cause  for  alarm  to  that  class  of  society  who  have 
the  most  direct  and  immediate  interest  in  its  operation,  and  there 
are  many  circumstances  which  gives  to  it  a  character  most  cheering. 
Public  opinion  is  now  more  happily  united  than  it  has  been  at  any 
former  period  ;  the  protecting  system  as  modified  is  now  permitted 
to  take  its  course;  the  temper  of  the  times  has  changed;  the 
storm  which  agitated  the  country  has  ceased  ;  the  policy  oi  protect- 
ing domestic  manufactures  is  no  longer  a  subject  of  contention  on 
the  political  battle  ground  ;  and  rival  candidates  and  their  partisans 
have  become  contented  to  make  their  appeal  for  public  support  on 
other  subjects.  This  question  has  been  settled,  not  only  by  wise 
legislation,  but  the  illustrations  of  experience  and  the  testimony  of 
facts ;  a  victory  has  been  achieved  for  the  country  and  its  most 
precious  interests,  yet  it  has  not  been  the  victory  of  a  party  which 
has  left  a  sting  or  wound  to  rankle  in  the  breast  of  the  vanquished. 

The  tendency  and  effects  of  the  present  state  of  the  country  were 
pointed  out  by  a  distmguished  patriot*  more  than  seventy  years  ago, 
if  not  in  the  spirit  of  prophecy,  at  least  in  the  full  assurance,  that 
the  happiest  condition  of  a  people  is  that  in  which  iheir  different 
occupations  are  connected  together,  and  united  in  one  common 
pursuit,  with  no  other  rival  feeling  between  those  engaged  in  the 
various  employments  of  life,  than  which  shall  effect  the  most  for 
the  good  of  all : 

"  The  tradesman  and  the  husbandman  would  do  well  to  consider, 
that  when  they  are  for  cramping  trade,  they  are  for  killing  a  faith- 
ful servant  who  is  toiling  day  and  night,  and  eating  the  bread  of 
care  for  their  sake  as  well  as  his  own.  The  merchant  and  the  gen- 
tleman would  do  well  to  reflect,  that  the  hand  of  the  tradesman  and 
husbandman  are  their  employers,  and  that  unless  they  increase  and 
multiply  in  their  commodities  and  riches,  the  merchant  will  never 
flourish.  The  merchant,  the  tradesman,  and  freeholder,  should  con- 
sider themselves  as  the  most  immediate  and  natural  brothers  in  the 
community  ;  that  God  and  nature  have  made  their  interests  inse- 
parable ;  and  when  they  will  agree  conjointly,  no  mortal  hand  can 
ever  prevail  against  them." 

*  Jamea  Otia. 


APPENDIX. 


Extracts  from  Questions  addressed  to  the  Mercantile  Society  of  the 
city  of  New- York,  in  1821,  by  the  Committee  on  Manufactures, 
from  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  with  the  Ansioers  of 
the  Society — showing  the  effect  of  protecting  duties  on  the  prices 
and  quality  of  goods,  and  also  on  commerce  and  the  production 
of  the  raw  material  in  this  country. 

Question  8th. — State  the  prices  of  the  following  articles  in  1811, 
or  any  other  year  or  years  before  the  war,  which  will  present  a 
fair  average  of  their  price  in  the  years  of  a  flourishing  commerce  : 
Coarse  Cottons,  Umbrellas,  Nails,  Gunpowder,  Playing  Cards, 
Carriages,  Cabinet  Wares,  Wafers,  Hats,  Boots  and  Shoes,  and 
any  other  manufactured  articles  which  were  formerly  imported, 
but  are  now  in  a  great  measure,  if  not  wholly,  made  in  the  United 
States, — the  relative  quality  of  the  imported  and  domestic  articles  T 

Answer. — Common  coarse  Cottons,  such  as  are  manufactured 
in  the  United  States,  may  be  fairly  stated  to  be  50  per  cent,  lower 
than  in  1811,  and  are  much  superior  to  the  piece  goods  of  similar 
description  from  Calcutta, 

Cabinet  Wares  are  greatly  superior,  and  full  25  per  cent,  lower. 

Gunpowder,       -         do.         do. 

Umbrellas,  .         do.         do. 

Carriages,  -        do.         do. 

Hats,         -  -        do.         do. 

Boots  and  Shoes,        do.         do. 

Silver  Ware  is  now  made  in  this  country  as  cheap  as  in  London, 
and  is  12^  per  cent,  lower  than  in  1811. 

Question  9th. — W^here  the  domestic  has  superseded  the  foreign 
supply  of  our  market,  state  the  general  effect  it  has  produced,  as  to 
price  and  quality  ;  and  whether  it  has  resulted  in  the  benefit  or  in- 
jury of  the  consumer  ? 

Answer  9th. — As  far  as  our  own  information  has  given  us  an 
opportunity  of  judging,  the  consumer  is  supplied  with  a  better  arti- 
cle for  the  same  price ;  it  is  particularly  so  with  Coarse  Cottons, 
Hats,  Boots  and  Shoes,  Cabinet  Wares,  Carriages,  Fancy  Chairs, 
Looking  Glass  and  Picture  Frames,  Silver  Plate,  Andirons,  Brass 


25   to   50 

do. 

33] 

do. 

50 

do. 

25 

do. 

20 

do. 

head  Shovel  and  Tongs,  Grates  for  burning  coal.  Gold  Leaf,  Woollen 
8atinet8,  Cut  Nails,  Fancy  Mock  Tortoise  Shell,  and  fine  lYory 
Combs,  Ride  Guns,  Cut  Tacks  and  Brads,  and  Tin  Wares. 

(Question  10th. — Taking  the  article  of  Cotton  as  an  example,  and 
supposing  coarse  cotton  goods  are  excluded,  have  the  effects  been 
injurious  to  commerce!  Is  there  as  much  tonnage;  are  there  as 
many  seamen  employed  in  the  transportation  of  the  raw  material  and 
the  manufactured  article  coastwise,  as  there  would  be  in  the  impor- 
tation of  the  foreign  manufacture  and  the  exportation  of  as  much 
cotton  as  would  make  the  goods  we  import  from  Europe  1  If  more 
or  less,  state  the  difference. 

Answer  10th. — The  exportation  of  the  raw  material  to  Europe, 
and  the  importation  of  the  article  when  manufactured,  would  give 
employment  to  a  greater  number  of  seamen,  and  more  tons  of  ship, 
ping,  than  the  transportation  of  the  same  raw  materials  and  manu- 
factured articles  coastwise.  So  far  as  relates  to  a  prohibition  of 
India  Cottons  (manufactured),  our  commerce  has  no  doubt  been 
benefitted,  because  it  could  only  be  employed  in  bringing  an  article 
manufactured  from  a  raw  material  of  foreign  growth  ;  whereas  the 
raw  material  of  which  tlie  substitute  is  made,  as  well  as  the  manufac- 
tured article,  are  both  transported  coastwise,  and  give  employment  to 
more  shipping  and  a  greater  number  of  seamen  than  the  importa- 
tion of  India  manufactured  Cottons  could  possibly  do.  It  would 
take  five  cargoes  of  unmanufactured  Cotton  to  make  one  of  mauu- 
factured  goods. 

^  Question  12th. — Does  the  consumption  of  Cotton  in  the  American 
manufactories  diminish  the  price  of  what  is  exported  to  Europe ;  in 
other  words,  are,  or  can,  the  fruits  of  Cotton  manufactories  be  inju. 
rious  to  those  who  raise  the  article  1 

Answer  12th. — The  consumption  of  cotton  at  home  increases  the 
price  to  the  growers  ;  thedemand  in  this  market  for  home  consump- 
tion is  generally  considered  to  keep  the  price  from  one  to  two  cents 
per  pound  higher  than  it  would  otherwise  be. 

Question  15th. — State  your  opinion  of  the  probable  operation  of 
this  bill  on  commerce  ;  if  injurious,  point  out  specifically  the  ob- 
jections. Would  it  decrease  our  tonnage,  or  number  of  seamen  1 
Would  it  diminish  the  price  of  any  of  our  articles  of  export— if  so, 
state  what  1  Is  the  price  of  these  articles,  and  their  demand  abroad, 
regulated  by  the  wants  of  other  nations,  or  by  the  amount  of  manu- 
factures we  receive  in  exchange  ?  State  not  only  your  opinion,  but 
experience,  and  the  information  of  others,  that  is  to  be  relied  upon, 
if  no  general  revision  of  the  tariff  should  be  proposed. 

Answer  15th. — We  think  generally  it  will  not  be  prejudicial  to 
commerce ;  it  would  not  diminish  the  value  of  any  article  of  do- 
mestic  produce  exported  ;  the  price  of  our  articles  abroad,  and  the 
demand  for  them,  is  regulated  by  the  wants  of  other  nations,  and 
not  by  what  we  in  return  receive  from  them. 


B. 

A  TABLE  showing  that  a  reduction  of  Duties  on  Coal,  Salt, 
Coffee,  and  Molasses,  has  not  eflfected  a  redaction  of  prices  on 
1    those  articles. 


Decem- 
ber 1. 

Coal  per 
Price. 

chaldron. 

Salt  per  bushd.l 

Coffee  per  pound. 

Molasses  per  gn. 

Duty. 

Price. 

Duty. 

Price. 

Duty. 

Price 

Duty. 

1815 

$23  00 

jaT'ecT 

90  c. 

20  c. 

25  c. 

10  c. 

70  c. 

10  c. 

1816 

14  00 

1  80 

60 

20 

21 

5 

50 

5 

1817 

11  00 

1  80 

60 

20 

24 

5 

60 

5 

1818 

11  00 

1  80 

70 

20 

30 

5 

53 

5 

1819 

14  00 

1  80 

70 

20 

24 

5 

40 

5 

1820 

1  80 

62 

20 

29 

5 

30 

5 

1821 

14  00 

1  80 

60 

20 

28 

5 

33 

5 

1822 

1  80 

60 

20 

25 

5 

33 

5 

1823 

12  75 

1  80 

52 

20 

20 

5 

26 

5 

1824 

15  00 

2  16 

50 

20 

17 

5 

28 

5 

1825 

14  00 

2  16 

58 

20 

16 

5 

33 

5 

1826 

10  00 

2  16 

49 

20 

15 

5 

30 

5 

1827 

13  00 

2  16 

62 

20 

14^ 

5 

33 

5 

1828 

13  00 

2  16 

52 

20 

13 

5 

24 

10 

1829 

11  00 

2  16 

45 

20 

12i 

5 

25 

10 

1830 

8  00 

2  16 

55 

20 

12 

5 

30 

10 

1831 

13  00 

2  16 

62 

15 

12i 

2 

30 

5 

c. 

CoMPxaATrvE  Statement  of  Prices 
,    of  sundry  articles  which  are  now  admit- 
ted into  the  United  States  free  of  duty : 
showing  the  prices  before  and  since  the 
repeal  of  the  duties  thereon. 

Oct.  1,  1830.    Oct.  1, 1834. 


Price. 

Duty 

Price. 

Duty. 

Tea,  hyson,  lb 

$1,124 

$0,87i 

$0,42. 

Free. 

Coffee, 

11 

5 

lOi 

Currants,  - 

9 

3 

4 

Prunes, 

14 

4 

5 

Figs, 

61 

3 

3 

Nutmegs,  - 

1,35 

60 

1,25 

Cassia, 

18 

6 

lU 

Cloves,      - 

45 

25 

19 

Pepper, 

14 

8 

7 

Ginger, 

8 

2 

5i 

Camphor,  - 

45 

12 

45 

Indigo, 

1,62 

30 

1,60 

Bloom  raisins 

1    per  box, 

2,25 

4 

1,25 

D. 

A  Table  showing  the  prices  of  Cotton 
and  Coarse  Cotton  Goods  in  the  city  of 
New- York  for  a  series  of  years  : 


Upland 

Brown  Cotton 

Cotton. 

Shirtings. 

1815, 

20  cts.  per  lb. 

25  cts. 

per  yd 

1816, 

28 

" 

" 

21 

u 

1817, 

28i 

" 

II 

21 

II 

1818, 

32 

It 

It 

21 

II 

1819, 

26 

t( 

u 

19 

It 

1820, 

16 

" 

11 

12i 

" 

1821, 

131 

" 

II 

12i 

11 

1822, 

15i 

>( 

II 

13 

It 

1823, 

lOi 

" 

tl 

11 

" 

1824, 

14 

" 

It 

10 

'• 

1825, 

19 

" 

It 

10 

it 

1826, 

11 

" 

II 

9 

It 

1827, 

9i 

" 

It 

9i 

II 

1828, 

10 

u 

u 

9 

" 

1829, 

10 

" 

It 

7i 

II 

1830, 

9i 

It 

It 

7 

II 

18S1, 

9 

It 

tl 

7* 

•1 

1832, 

9 

It 

It 

7 

u 

1833, 

lOi 

II 

II 

7 

u 

tl 

1834, 

11 

II 

" 

6i 

" 

t« 

N.  B. — One  pound  of  cotton  make  flmr 
yards  of  the  above  goods. 


iSS 


E. 

A  Table  ihowingthe  total  ralneof  aon- 
dry  articles  of  American  mano&cture 
exported  to  foreign  countries  in  the 
year  ending  September  30,  1333,  with 
the  productive  duty  on  each  article. 

^im0unt         Pr0teetiv» 
Manufacture.        Exported.    Duty  in  1832. 
Cotton  Goods,    -  $2,532,517— «v.  80  p.  c. 


Flax  and  Hemp, 

Wearing  Apparel, 

Combs  &  Buttons, 

Umbrellas  and  Pa- 
rasols,     -    .    - 

Glass,     -    -    -    - 

Printing  Presses, 
and  1  ype,    -    - 

Books  and  Majss, 

Paper  and  other 
Stationary,  -    - 

Leather   &.  Boots 

&  Shoes,      -":.-    251,777 

Household  Fui^- 
ture,    - 

Coaches  &  other 
Carriages,    -    - 


24,949  -  25 
43,934  -  50 
142,970— av.  25 

21,380  -  25 
93,494— av.  30 


16,599 
48,946 


25 
30 


46,484    -     60 
30 


-    -    200,635    -      25 


30 
30 
30 
50 

48,009— av.  50 


72,177 


75 


113,626    -     25 


28,830    . 

Hats,-    -    -    -    .    243,271 

Saddlery,    -    -    -      33,051 

Snuff  &  Tobacco,    288,973 

Iron— Castings,  • 
"  —Pig,  Bar,  & 
Nails,  -  - 
"  Manufac- 
tures of,   -    -    - 

Spirits  from  grain, 
&c.     -    -    -    -    144,069 

Earthen  and  Stone 

Ware,-    -    -    -      12,159 

Cordage,     -    -    -      23,140 

Sugar,  refined,     -      40,327 

Gsnpowder,    -    -     139,164 

Copper  and  Brasn,    203,880 

Soap  and  Tallow 
C^Ies,  -    -    -    673,076 

The  total  amount  of  American  Ma- 
nufactures exported  in  the  above  year 
was f6,923,922 


-  150 

-  20 

-  40 

-  100 

-  30 

-  25 

-  60 


F. 

The  araoimt  of  domestic  mami&ctures 
3xported  in  1823,  not  including  uncer- 

•ain  articles,  was    2,357,000 

Amount  in  1833,  excluding 
coin  and  articles  not  enu- 
merated, was  5,956,000 

Difference  in  &vor  of  the  lat- 
ter year 3,599,000 


In  1833.  In  1833. 
The  exports  of  mana- 
acturea  of  iron  were 

only 97,000  233,000 

Hats 115,000  243,000 

Snuff,   tobacco,    lin- 
seed oil,  &c 175,000  313,000 

Gunpowder 66,000  139,000 

Brass  &,  copper 16,000  203,000 

Medicinal  drugs 74,000  126,000 

543,000   1,317,000 
The  following  articles  are  not  in  the 
list  of  exports  in  1823. 

In  1833,  there  was  exported  : 

Manufactures  of  cotton 2,532,000 

Combs  and  buttons 142,000 

Wearing  apparel 430,000 

Books,  maps,  paper  &  stationary      94,000 

Manufactures  of  glass 93,000 

Other  articles,  amounting  to  . . .    215,000 

3,219,000 

In  1823,  the  imports    of  hats,  caps, 

and    bonnets,    deducting    exportations, 

were f802,000 

Hats  of  domestic  roanufbcture 
exported 115,000 

Balance  of  imports  over  exports  687,000 

In  1833,  the  imports  of  leghorn  hats,  &c. 

were,  deducting  the  exportation,  1 16,000 

Domestic  hats  exported 243,000 

Balance  of  exports  over  imports  127,000 

In  1833,  the  imports  of  manufactures 

of  copper  and  brass  were  ....     351,000 

Domestic  articles  exported . .       16,000 

Balance  of  imports 335,000 

In  1833,  the  imports  were 403,000 

Domestic  articles  exported. . . .  203,000 

Balance  of  imports 200,000 


G. 


In  1823,  the  amount  of  cotton  goods 

imported  was $8,867,000 

Of  which  were  exported . .     2,641,000 

Consumed  in  United.  States  .  6,226,000 
No  domestic  cotton  goods  were  export- 
ed this  year. 

In  1833,  the  amoimt  of  importations 

was 7,658,000 

Of  which  were  exported. . . .  2,404,000 


Consumed  in  United  States . .  5,254, 000 
Carried  over. 


X-C.^f7t 


S4 


Brought  oyer,    f  5,254,000 
Domeitic  cottons  exported  . .  2,532,000 

Balance  of  the  export*  and  im- 
porta  of  this  year 2,722,000 

Lew  than  1823  by  6,226,000—2,722,000 
=  3,504,000. 

In  1823,  the  import8  of  white  cottons 

amoufited  to 2,636,000 

Of  which  were  exported  . . .    520,000 

Consumed  in  United  States  .  2,116,000 
In   1833,  the  amount  of  importations 

was 1,181,000 

Of  which  were  exported 7 10,000 

Consumed  in  United  States  .     471,000 
Domestic  white  cottons  ex- 
ported   1,802,000 

Balance  of  exports  and  imports 
in  fbvor  of  the  United  States . . ,  1,331,000 

Difference  between  the  two  years  on 
this  article,  $3,447,000. 

In  1823,  the  imports  of  cotton  goods  from 
the  British  East  Indies  was,  printed  and 
colored  331,000,  white  229,000.  .$560,000 

In  1833,  printed  and  colored 
43,000,  white  2,580 45,580 

Difference  between  the  two 
years .  .«514,420 

In  1833,  there  was  exported  to  the 
British  Eist  Indies,  of  white  domestic 
cottons  36,000,  being  33,420  over  the 
imports. 

In  the  same  year,  there  was  exported 
of  the  same  article  to  other  English  Co- 
lonies, 28,000.  To  the  Dutch  East  In- 
dies, 26,000. 

Cotton  goods  exported  to  China  in  this 
year  amounted  to $216,000 

The  importations  of  cotton 
goods  from  China  was  8,000, 
nankeens  30,000 38,000 

Balance  of  exports  and  imports 
of  this  year  on  cotton  in  favor  of 
the  United  States $178,000 

In  1823,  nankeens  imported  from 
China  amounted  to  $595,000. 

In  1833,  the  amount  of  domestic  manu- 
fttctures  exported  to  the  dominions  of 
Great  Britein  was  $444,000. 


H. 

The  amount  of  cotton  goods  manufactu- 
red aimualiv  at  Lowell  ifi  37,504,000  yards. 
Value,  $4,500,000. 

Cotton  consumed,  33,058  bales,  or  11,< 
600,000  pounds. 

Tlie  amount  of  printed  cottons  exported 
ft-om  Providence,  of  the  manufactories 
within  30  miles,  is $4,000,000 

Add  the  cotton  manufactures 
of  Lowell, 4,500,000 

8,500,000 
The  whole  amount  of  impor- 
ted cottons  consumed  in  the  U- 
nited  States  in  1833 5,254,000 


Excess  of  the  domestic  arti- 
cle manufactured  at  and  near 
these  two  places, $3,246,000 

Estimating  the  consumpion  of  cotton  at 
Lowell  to  be  one-sixth  of  the  whole  do- 
mestic consumption,  the  number  of  yards 
manufactured  in  the  U.  S.  is  225,024,000. 
Value,  $27,000,000. 

The  relative  amount  of  the  domestic 
and  foreign  manu&ctures  consumed  in  the 
United  States  will  be  found  vastly  dispro- 
portionate by  referring  to  the  population. 
By  the  censiis  of  1830  it  amounted  to  12,- 
856,000 :  of  which  2,000,000  were  slaves. 

In  1833  the  imports  of  woollen  cloths 
and  ca'ssimeres,  deducting  exportations, 
was  $5,800,000  ;  cottons,  $5,254,000  ; 
aggregate,  $11,054,000. 

This  is  about  87  cents  for  each  individ- 
ual ;  and  for  each  slave,  $5,57,  which  is  a 
low  estimate  for  the  woollen  and  cotton 
clothing  consumed  by  slaves  annually. 

It  may,  therefore,  be  safely  estimated 
that  the  domestic  manufactures  of  wool 
and  cotton  are  equal  in  amount  to  the  con- 
sumption of  those  articles  by  the  whole 
free  population  of  the  United  States,  which 
is  now  from  12,000,000  to  12,500,000,  al- 
lowing an  increase  of  from  1,00<),000  to 
1,500,000. 

Assuming  at  $11,054,000,  the  consump- 
tion of  imported  woollen  and  cotton  cloth 
is  $1  to  each.  The  amount  of  the  con- 
sumption of  these  articles  by  each  individ- 
ual beyond  this  sum,  multiplied  by  11,- 
000,000,  shows  the  excess  of  the  domestic 
manufacture. 

Assuming  the  consumption  of  each  free- 
man to  be  double  that  of  a  slave,  say  $11,- 
14,  the  whole  domestic  consumption 
would  amount  to  $122,648,000. 


